The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
-----

Copper extraction from copper sulphate

I am student for one of my chemistry course I have to immerse a piece of zinc in copper sulphate ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] . I am in doubt that the deposit which sediment via this reaction is copper or some other form of copper like copper oxide, if it is copper oxide what kind of, it is (the color of deposit is brown to red) by the way I am looking for a way to some how convert it to copper any help will be much appreciated.

Fuad Karimi
student - Tehran, Iran
2004

---

It's copper.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004

When I immerse a piece of zinc in copper sulphate solution copper should deposit but actually it is not copper powder, it's copper oxide; so please help me to prevent oxidizing the copper . I am looking if there is some factor which causes the oxidation of copper through the reaction for example the oxygen or some other factor which I don't know. any help or explanation will be much thankful.

Fuad Karimi
student - Tehran, Iran
2004

---

I don't agree that it's copper oxide because that contradicts experience and because copper oxide is not an ion that you can immersion plate with. How do you know it's copper oxide? Anyway, here's how to stop it: attach a battery with the negative pole connected to the item you want to plate and the positive pole attached to a piece of scrap copper. This will keep the plated area surrounded by nascent hydrogen so it can't oxidize.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004

Ted is quite right! It is copper. Metals, depending on how they are formed, can vary in color greatly - sometimes not even looking like the metal they are.

Gold, for instance, can come out of solution as bright, shiny, yellow plates... or it can come out looking like dirt... or it can even appear purple or other colors.

Copper can look copperish like a new penny, or it can come out reddish and cruddy looking. If it is allowed to sit, of course, it can *eventually* turn to oxide, especially if moist. But that takes a bit of time. What you describe is copper metal.

Vincent E Summers
- Charlottesville, Virginia
2004